The present disclosure relates generally to a valve apparatus for natural gas flow and other gas and fluid flow.
The flow of the gases and other fluids piped through lines is controlled with valves. U.S. Pat. No. 8,132,783 discloses a valve apparatus that can be used for such purposes. It is often difficult to protect the mechanical arrangement by which the iris mechanism control element is mechanically adjusted as well as the mechanism which is used to reduce the drive motor revolutions to a single revolution so that it may be used to limit the travel of the control element.
The present disclosure relates to a valve apparatus for a fluid transmission line. The valve apparatus comprises: a housing; a drive mechanism; a leadscrew selectively rotatable in a first or second rotational leadscrew direction by the drive mechanism; a drive gear mounted to the housing, the drive gear configured to be selectively rotatable in a first or second drive gear direction during rotation of said leadscrew in the first or second leadscrew direction, said drive gear defining a throughhole; a plurality of leaves disposed about said throughhole, each of said leaves including a curvilinear portion and a pair of ends and being pivotally or otherwise mounted to the drive gear, and each of said leaves being oriented to extend radially inward into said throughhole to define an orifice; and a plurality of engagement members biasing said leaves to reduce the orifice when said drive gear rotates in said first drive gear direction and to increase the orifice when said drive gear rotates in said second drive gear direction to adjust a volume of transmission of fluid therethrough. The housing may define a bore, the leadscrew, and the drive gear housed substantially within the bore.
The valve apparatus may further comprise a fastener threadingly or otherwise engaged with the leadscrew and engage with the drive gear for transferring torque from the leadscrew to the drive gear during rotation of the leadscrew. The fastener travels along a length of the leadscrew during rotation of the leadscrew. The valve apparatus may further comprise a stationary shaft adjacent the leadscrew, the fastener slidably engaged with the shaft for balancing the torque transferred from the leadscrew to the fastener. The valve apparatus may further include a lever arm engaging the fastener and the drive gear. The valve apparatus may further include a bushing engaging the fastener and the lever arm. The lever arm may include two parallel arms, each of which is operatively associated with the bushing.
The drive mechanism of the valve apparatus includes a motor operatively associated with the leadscrew for selectively rotating the leadscrew in the first or second leadscrew direction. The drive mechanism may also include a planetary gear transmission operatively associated with the motor. The planetary gear transmission comprises a central sun gear, a plurality of planetary gears, and a ring gear. The housing may define a bore and include a casing defining a cavity, the motor and the planetary gear transmission housed substantially within the cavity.
Features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows and the accompanying drawings described below, wherein an embodiment of the disclosure is described and shown, and in part will become apparent upon examination of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.